Category: blog

  6-12 month+: Piggy Bank: https://a.co/d/cj4IcuR Sorting Shapes: https://a.co/d/c6aO5ej Buckle Toy: https://a.co/d/5bfqGQI Stacking Cups: https://a.co/d/9iDF3NZ Feed the Fish: https://a.co/d/ePFekzO Toddlers/Young: Sequence For Kids: https://a.co/d/5BxINjE Balloon Launcher: https://a.co/d/aZwHCiF Pretend Play Ice Cream: https://a.co/d/gGvhT5b Let’s Go Fishing: https://a.co/d/e8ZS2I2 Dino Launcher: https://a.co/d/6UfnrGD Zingo: https://a.co/d/eM0lS7P Sorting Baskets: https://a.co/d/2gOm1gu Frankie’s Food Truck: https://a.co/d/eTCPotp Elementary Aged: Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza: https://a.co/d/jjRz4bS Gravity Maze: https://a.co/d/hEl5To5 Kanoodle: https://a.co/d/5BmK1yP Code Names: https://a.co/d/69ieiNp Tetris: https://a.co/d/favJNuD Quick Pucks: https://a.co/d/d8jDnAn Traffic Jam: https://a.co/d/1VXnEf7 Connect Four *Spin: https://a.co/d/947j1Vo Left Center Right: https://a.co/d/caAetAB Teens: The Game of Things: https://a.co/d/21TA4BC What Do You Meme?: https://a.co/d/iJT3nAb Catan: https://a.co/d/fgVl4al Wordle Board Game: https://a.co/d/bmxKjas Mind the Gap: https://a.co/d/bFUG1nZ

    The leaves are falling! What a great time to read The Leaf Thief By Alice Hemming. Our friend squirrel goes on a fun adventure trying to find the leaf thief. Prior to reading the story, take the time to make predictions as to who the leaf thief is. While reading, use story clues to determine if you guessed correctly. This story is great to talk about prediction, story clues, inferencing, characters’ emotions, and sequencing of events.  You can also do a book walk through looking at the pictures or  words that your child might not know. Write the words down and create a picture or sentence association.  This will help your child recall the meaning of the word

Importance of a weekly routine: A weekly routine is crucial for child development as it provides a structured and predictable environment that helps children feel secure and understand what to expect each day. Consistent routines support the development of time management skills, helping children learn to anticipate and prepare for various activities, which fosters independence and confidence. Regular routines also contribute to emotional stability by reducing anxiety and promoting a sense of order. Additionally, routines can improve behavioral regulation by establishing clear expectations and patterns, making transitions smoother and minimizing conflicts. This does not mean that everyday has to look the exact same, that is not realistic.  Although routines might look different day to day, there are some aspects within

To promote better sleep for children, it’s important to create a calm bedtime environment and establish a consistent sleep routine. Use cues and routines to help your kiddos transition smoothly to bedtime. Additionally, allocate time for connection and conversation before sleep to foster a sense of security. Utilize these Donkey Hodie bedtime cards   to create a calm environment with your child before bedtime! Donkey Hodie Bedtime Cards Website: pbskids.org/donkeyhodie Produced By: Fred Rogers Productions

    Self talk is used to narrate your actions. It is a great strategy to increase your child’s exposure to new words. You can model self-talk when completing daily tasks around your baby or toddler. When narrating, think of your five senses (e.g., smell, touch, sight, taste, hearing) For example, if you are driving in the car with your child you can narrate what you are doing (e.g., turning the car on, putting your seatbelt on). You can also describe what you see while driving (e.g., a person crossing the street, the light is red).    Parallel talk is similar to self-talk, the only difference is you are narrating what your child is doing. This helps aid in vocabulary

    Symbolic play occurs when a child uses an object to represent or symbolize another object. For example if a child uses a banana as a phone, the child is participating in symbolic play. This is also called pretend play. Children start to expand their use of symbolic play from 3-5 years of age. So why is symbolic play important? The use of symbolic play helps in building cognitive skills. Additionally, symbolic play coincides with language development allowing children to create a rich and meaningful learning experience.  Your child is expanding vocabulary, learning new concepts, and creating associations. To learn more about symbolic play and language check the link below!   https://www.littlelanguagelab.com/blog/symbolic-play

In today’s fast-paced world, it is more important than ever to create a little space for mindful communication. Our ability to communicate the best way we can depends on how present we are at any given moment. We can bring more  groundedness, calm, and a sense of safety into our daily lives and routines  through a multitude of simple actions. These actions can help us parents, as well as our children be the best communicators we can be. Here is a few ideas for the whole family: – begin each family meal by taking 5 transition (or “bubble”) breaths (breathing in through your nose and slowly breathing out through pursed lips (as though blowing a big bubble) – during bed-time

  Speech therapy for young children is play-based and may look exactly like play time. How this differs from play time with the child’s mom, dad, or other children is the strategies that the speech therapist uses during play with the child. During play-based therapy, therapists will often follow a child’s lead to best support engagement and promote communication opportunities. While engaging with toys and activities, the therapist will use techniques such as getting on the child’s level on the floor, parallel talk (i.e., narrating wth the child is doing), adding an additional word to the child’s utterance, setting up turn-taking opportunities, and modeling different types of play. While it may look like a therapist is just playing with your

In July, I adopted a sweet four year old golden retriever and sheltie mix! Her name is Lady 🙂 Although the first few weeks have been a transitional shift to my usual routine, it has brought joy and comfort in areas of my life I did not anticipate! I myself suffer from anxiety and utilize tools to self-regulate occasionally, just like some of the children I treat daily.  Since having her in my life, I have not had to utilize my “go-to” tools to de-stress as often.  She has been providing me with a lot of the comfort I need when it’s time to calm down.  This has gotten me thinking about how beneficial dogs can be to individuals with